Glam Nails Challenge October — Graveyard 🪦

Good morning lovelies & happy Tuesday! Anyone else still recovering from the weekend?

This past weekend was Canadian Thanksgiving, so on top of working all weekend, I am a little wrung out. Hence my super late posting of these graveyard nails for GlamNailsChallengeOctober! I was actually pumped for these, because it gave me a change to pull out my What’s Up Nails graveyard vinyls I got courtesy of NailPolishCanada a few years ago.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • OPI Give Me Space
  • Starrily Space Debris
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod
  • What’s Up Nails Graveyard Stencils
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush

First off, loving adding Starrily Space Debris over every polish lately for some extra holo sparkle — it looks especially good over OPI Give Me Space. I thought it was a nice starry background for my graveyards. It’s been a while since I used the stencils so I struggled a bit. You can kind of see it on my middle finger — so I went with it, & created a little ghosty, haunting my graveyard.

What do you think about these graveyard nails? Have you started to create some Halloween designs, & prep for festivities? What will you be dressing up as this year? Let me know in the comments below!

SWATCH SUNDAY — Essence Into The Unknown

Hello lovelies & Happy Sunday!

Hope you’re excited for another new Swatch Sunday pick! Now that we’re reaching end of September, I’ve really been feeling these darker jewel tone shades lately. After browsing the Essence display, I was immediately drawn to this blackened navy blue shade: Into the Unknown.

2 coats, no top coat

I feel like you can never have too many navy blues, so I was excited to pick up this shade. I’ve loved Essence for years, especially because the price point is great — these Essence Shine, Last & Go shades retail for $2.99 CAD each.

For my swatches, I applied two coats of polish over a generous extra coat of base coat, heeding the warning on the back of the bottle. The formula itself was really easy to work with, & smooth to apply. & the polish bottle has a wonderfully wide brush that makes it easy to get the whole nail in one swipe — especially nice when I’m in a rush to paint my nails at night.

What do you think about Essence Into the Unknown? I’m really adoring this darkened navy, & I’m just dreaming of putting a good coat of shimmer or flakies over top of it. Maybe a coat of liner holo? I think it would be so beautiful over this navy shade.

What are you wearing right now? Let me know what shades you’re loving for the season, & any shades you’re dying to pick up from current collections.

Glam Nails Challenge September — Squirrel 🐿

Hello lovelies & happy Monday!

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. I had a weekend off from work to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary, which was lovely. But busy. But today we’re keeping GlamNailsChallenge September going with another prompt: squirrel.

& I’m going to preface this with: I tried really hard. But woodland creatures are not my specialty.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Essie Satin Sister
  • Acrylic Paints
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush

Okay so I definitely will not be winning any awards for my artistic talents anytime soon. But you know… he’s an okay, albeit wonky, squirrel 🐿. I was super nervous about this prompt because I really didn’t think I could pull it off. Haha. & while it’s yet to be determined if I did in fact pull it off, I still managed to make something! & next time I will make sure I have some stamping plates with all possible animals so I don’t have to deal with this stress again. Haha.

What do you think about this squirrel design? Do you see a woodland creature? Haha. Let me know what you think down in the comments below! & please, be nice. Haha.

Don’t forget you can get following along with all these designs for this months challenge using the hashtag #GlamNailsChallengeSept on Instagram. & see way better looking squirrel nails than mine!

SWATCH SUNDAY — Essie Satin Sister

Hello lovelies & happy Sunday! Another week has quickly sped by, & that means it’s time for another fun Swatch Sunday post. I recently put in an order through NailPolishCanada.com, & excitingly enough, my shades arrived earlier this week! I grabbed some gorgeous shades on clearance, so I am very excited to share what arrived.

First up, I have this Essie Winter 2016 shade: Satin Sister. Funnily enough, I just scored Getting Groovy (from the same collection) at Shoppers Drug Mart on clearance for $2 a couple of weeks ago.

2 coats, no top coat.

Essie Satin Sister is a beautiful creamy darkened teal blue. Depending on the light, it either leans to the blue side of things, or to the greener ends of things. The colour itself is great for Autumn. It’s deep & jewel toned, which I very much enjoy. It was kind of a spur of the moment polish pick, but I’m really happy with my decision.

Usually I’m more of a navy blue kind of girl, so this is a really nice change up for me. Its something a little bit different for me.

The formula is nice. This shade still has the skinny Essie brush of yester-years, but if didn’t affect my application to much. Like I said, I needed two coats for opacity — even without top coat. That’s not too bad. Obviously, I would love for a one coat wonder, but two coats isn’t too bad.

The only thing I’m a bit nervous about is removal, which I haven’t attempted yet. Definitely feel like this could potentially have some staining power, but hopefully not!

What do you think about this shade? Are you loving darker shades right now? Let me know all your thoughts down I the comments below! & shade what shade you’re currently wearing right now.

Glam Nails Challenge September — Night Sky 🌌

Hello lovelies & happy Wednesday!

Hope everyone is having a lovely week so far. Today I’m pumped to share with you another design for Glam Nails Challenge September: Night Sky. I can’t even remember the last time I did night sky/galaxy nails, so I was really excited for this prompt. It’s been too, too long. Plus my nails are feeling super long right now, & I always think galaxy designs look amazing on long nails.

The polishes I used for this manicure are: 

  • Base Coat: Essie First Base
  • Top Coat: Seche Vive
  • Sally Hansen Insta-dri Midnight Drive
  • CND Vinylux Lost Labyrinth
  • Zoya Devin
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get Mod!
  • Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Make It N-Ice
  • NailStuff.ca 7mm detail brush
  • Latex free make up sponge

How cute did these turn out?! Plus I got to try out a bunch of my new shades that I’ve purchased recently — I’ve been on a bit of nail polish buying spree — so I combined they into this look. I love the different levels on blue, & that the blues are most complimentary. It gives it more of the appearance of an actual sky you could be looking at from your backyard, rather than being in space. Also how adorable is this little crescent moon that I hand painted? It definitely took me a second to get it perfect-ish, but I love how it turned out.

I just love them!

How are we feeling about this manicure? Do you like how they turned out? Are you excited about the prompts to come? Don’t forget to check out #glamnailschallengeSeptembe on Instagram to see everyone else’s awesome nail art looks for this prompt as well!